Responding to Trials

What is your response to trials in your life? Whether they are big or small, I know that my natural reaction is to be discouraged by them. Even when I have passed through whatever difficult situations I might face, there is a tendency on my part simply to be wearied. On my best days, I might be thankful to God for getting me through it, but there is no question that I would have rather avoided the situation altogether.

D.A. Carson suggests that my response to trials ought to be altogether different. In his daily blog last Friday, Carson made the following observation from Psalm 66:8-12:

There the psalmist begins by inviting the peoples of the world to listen in on the people of God as they praise him because “he has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping.” Then the psalmist directly addresses God, and mentions the context in which the Lord God preserved them: “For you, O God, tested us; you refined us like silver. You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance” (66:10 -12).

This is stunning. The psalmist thanks God for testing his covenant people, for refining them under the pressure of some extraordinarily difficult circumstances and for sustaining them through that experience. This is the response of perceptive, godly faith. It is not heard on the lips of those who thank God only when they escape trial or are feeling happy.

This is the same kind of thought we find in James 1:2-4 - "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

Okay. It's great to say that I should do this. But the reality is that I don't. How do I get from where I am to where I should be? The answer lies (as so often is the case) in the Gospel. As I consider the trials that Christ Jesus endured for me, primarily in his sacrificial death on our behalf, I realize a number of things:

• My trials are relatively small compared to those of Christ, who gave up everything so that we might know him.
• Just as God was faithful and trustworthy to provide the way to salvation, so too he is faithful and trustworthy in the midst of my trials.
• Though I may lack the ability by my own strength to have the right mindset, Christ who lives in me has demonstrated that he lacks nothing, and by the Holy Spirit he empowers me to do his will by his strength, not my own.
• My trials are passing, but there lies in store for me an eternal crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him (James 1:12).
  

In light of these facts, may we all have the type of attitude toward trials that is described in 1 Peter 1:6-7 - "In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, as was necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith - more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire - may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ."